Seattle 
San Francisco 
Oakland & Berkeley 
Northern California Wine Country 
Portland 
make music any way you can
Go on a mini-vacation during your lunch break
try something new and challenging
The Family Crest plays Tractor Tavern, and a podcast
Posted in Good Ideas / Places / Seattle and Washington / Videos and Podcasts
*Vote here for Family Crest to win best new band*
They wear a color-coordinated black and maroon wardrobe. Their size fluctuates frequently. They’ve played a show in Seattle at least once a day since January first. You might have seen them rocking out at Fremont Abbey Arts Center or jamming in a Monorail car. Who are they? The genre-defying San Francisco band The Family Crest.
In 2008 a collaborative recording project brought the group together. Songwriter Liam McCormick, more aptly labeled a composer with his mix of classical training and classic rock inspiration, put out the call to his musical friends to assemble.
Soon he found his himself and his microphone surrounded by talented musicians. The core six players play drums, flute, cello, guitar, fiddle, bass, and percussion, but the “extended family” that inspired the band’s name is often expanded to include more singers, keyboards, harmonica and even an oboe.
A Pandora Mini-Guide
Posted in Culture Vulture / Featured / Good Ideas / Places / San Francisco Bay Area
Dear Pandora,
Thanks for being a cool company. Your love for music and ability to pay artists for their work is inspiring. Because of you I’ve learned about new bands and new sounds. Thanks for your recommendations.
But most of all, thank you for staying in Oakland after you became a public company. Thanks for believing in this awesome city, and thanks for creating a program to mentor local small business owners. Thanks for answering my questions and believing in my vision.
I made you this mini-guide so you could vacation on your lunch break or enjoy Oaktown after work. Maybe you already know these spots so they serve as a reminder what’s in your vicinity, maybe you haven’t yet had the time to explore them. Either way I hope you enjoy some of my recommendations to you since you’ve given me so many good ones.
Pandora Mini-Guide: Good Fun and Good Eats within blocks of Pandora HQ
You Pandorians are lucky to work in the heart of Oakland on a block edged by Downtown, Uptown, Lake Merritt, and the burgeoning Telegraph Arts District. If it were me, I’d be planning my next lunch break or after-work soiree on the daily.
Here are just a few of the many worthwhile stops that are close to the Pandora offices – all of whom give back to the community, the environment, and the local economy in some way. Most are locally-owned and employ Oaklanders, some use independent banks that give small loans to new local businesses, others recycle and compost and re-purpose materials or use organic and fair trade products. They often consider their footprints and use high efficiency appliances or promote community through interaction and learning. I encourage you to explore and find your own favorites – there are new spots popping up all the time, and hidden gems tucked in these storied blocks.
Even with your busy days making radio better and spreading good music (and comedy – I’ve been tuning in to my George Carlin station regularly since I discovered this feature!) we all need a little mini-vacance sometimes, don’t we? In Oakland you can easily weave that vacation mentality into your day if you know where to go…
All phone numbers are (510) area code unless otherwise mentioned. Guide after the break…
Sous Vide with Chef Preston Dishman and a podcast
Posted in DIY / Good Ideas / Kitchen Adventures / Places / San Francisco Bay Area / Videos and Podcasts
I’m not huge on New Year’s resolutions. I prefer the softer sort of intentional change. Call it “examined life, light.”
I wake up each morning and take a little time to reorient my motivation. In the midst of the January resolution hoopla I find myself with a dozen or so thoughts on the year ahead that I might want to implement on a more drawn out basis – say one goal a month. Then even that gets too complicated and I revert to just wishing for the time to think about my direction.
So, as I steer my virtual rudder, I find myself with a few initial hopes, based in large part on my experiences in December 2011. The long and the short of it is this: I hope to refine my decision making skills, not to take on too much, and, last but not least, to be more ambitious and adventurous in my cooking.
I’ll start with my kitchen ambition. I took an incredible sous vide class with Chef Dishman at Draeger’s Market teaching space next to his restaurant Viognier. It was fantastic.
First of all, Preston’s a joy to be around, and just the right balance of talented and self depricating so none of his hocus pocus techniques seem frivolous or impossible. He’s relaxed, un-pompous, and highly knowledgeable. He cooks for people’s enjoyment – not so much to impress – although the harissa carrots and short ribs he made definitely had that effect. Preston’s sincerity allows for a reciprocal ambiance akin to Southern hospitality. His food isn’t taste bud stretching, or laden with chic offal offerings
Afikomen Judaica in Berkeley
Posted in DIY / Good Ideas / Kitchen Adventures / Places / San Francisco Bay Area
Perched near the top of Claremont Avenue is a strip of locally-owned shops that echo of some idyllic time gone by. I hate to use the word quaint, but if I were ever to employee it this would certainly be an apt place. There are a couple bookstores, (one with a comic and scifi fantasy focus), an elegant flower shop, a small grocer complete with a butcher, a bread bakery, and among the row the most complete Judaica shop in the Bay Area and beyond. Unlike the gift shops associated with specific congregations, this place is open to all variations of Judaism, and, in fact, is popular among non-Jews.
Afikomen is an open place, full of special things – from prayer shawls to Israeli hip-hop, ancient temple incense and oils to kosher wines, Yiddish primers to hand-crafted jewelry… Nell Mahgel-Friedman, who runs the shop with her husband Rabbi Chaim, says people of many faiths use the tallit, prayer shawls. Their collection rivals any on the West Coast.
Holiday Soapbox
Posted in Good Ideas
I’m excited for tomorrow night – the first night of Chanukah. I’ve got all the fixins: candles, potatoes, apples, menorahs, and a nice pile of gelt: silver- and gold-wrapped chocolate coins. But, in preparing for the holiday, which to me serves more as a connective tissue to my ancestors, an excuse for story-telling, and a fun and delicious tradition, than a moment of spiritual transformation, I can’t help but reflect on the holiday season in general.
I appreciate that Chanukah has been a bit more sheltered from the onslaught of mindless materialism and the assumptive religious paraphernalia that are thrown in our faces beginning in November. (Well, except for the blue and white Chrismakah decor at the YMCA, and such things…) Imagine the outcry if there were a menorah or a Muslim symbol hung above the tunnel on Treasure Island midway to San Francisco on the Bay Bridge – it would be major news, I’m sure. One of my nearest and dearest beliefs is not a specific spiritual tenet, but a value that faith is personal. What you consider to be right doesn’t need to be right for someone else, and, I maintain, should definitely not be forced on others.
I adore a good celebration, but I get grumpy sometimes at the barage of red and green and the idea that this diverse nation, founded on the separation of church and state, is, for an entire season, assumed one-size-fits-all Christian. We’re a quilt, and our myriad philosophies and religions is one of the things that makes the U.S. so alluring. It’s hard to find a way to rejoice when there’s no choice of how many times you hear “White Christmas” or “Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer” – incidentally both written by Jews.
In my family alone there’s a great variation. Between close relatives, in-laws, and extended family we are several versions of Jewish (super reform, reform, conservative, Chasidic), Unitarian, Quaker, Methodist, Lutheran, atheist, a handful of types of Buddhist (Sakya, Gelug, Nyingma, Kagyu, Zen, Reme, Nichiren), Christian Community, Sufi, Vedanta, Subud, and agnostic. Spending the holidays with different parts of my family is akin to traveling to different countries.